


You Could Be My Drug

by TragicLove



Series: And Learn to Fly [3]
Category: Hanson (Band)
Genre: F/M, First Love, Fluff, Reunions, This Time Around Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 03:47:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15964037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TragicLove/pseuds/TragicLove
Summary: She didn’t know if they were old enough for her to be so sure, but she knew that she was going to spend the rest of her life kissing those lips.





	You Could Be My Drug

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to xhorizen's [It Started With a Whisper](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Vanishinyourkiss/works/15889185), and is a prequel to [The End of Everything](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Vanishinyourkiss/works/15896268) & [The Path to Heaven Runs Through Miles of Clouded Hell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15904737)
> 
> HanFic Bingo prompt: Not my best friend. 
> 
> Title comes from the song Everybody Talks.

It had been a year, and he’d never called.

If she were being honest with herself, she never really expected him to. He was just a kid, and not only that, but he was a _famous_ kid. Girls all over the world would cut their arms off to get near him, who was Natalie to think she’d be anything more to him than just a chance meeting on a California beach? Maybe a memory to think back on someday, but nothing more. 

So, then why was she so nervous? Standing in the mirror, doing and re-doing her hair, fixing her makeup just right. Right after she’d changed her shirt for the tenth time, sighing to herself, Kate walked into her room, effortlessly beautiful in her sundress, her hair pulled into a high ponytail.

“Are you ready? We’re going to be late!”

“Yeah,” Natalie sighed again, turning to face her best friend. “Do I look okay?”

“You always look okay, what with that whole girl next door thing you’ve got going on,” Kate rolled her eyes. As if she had any room to compare. “Come on, I’m dying to get there.”

It had been thirteen months since that day on the beach in Los Angeles and Kate had barely stopped talking about Zac Hanson for ten minutes. Never mind the fact that he hadn’t seemed to even give her a second glance, she was convinced that they were meant to be. They’d met on that beach to fulfill some secret destiny that Kate was just _sure_ was a real thing, and she was going to use tonight to make sure destiny was obtained. 

Kate had been doing some modeling work for Macy’s. Why? Natalie wasn’t sure, considering that she seemed to hate it. She detested the other girls she worked with and she made a point to let everyone know that she thought modeling was a brainless, vapid interest. But yet, she’d been working for Macy’s for a few months now and they’d offered her two passes to Hanson’s show that just happened to be in town that night, and she’d decided that Natalie was coming along for the ride.

The twenty minute car ride to the venue was an endless loop of Kate talking about Zac. Did Natalie think he’d recognize Kate? Did she think he’d be happy to see her? All the while, the only thing Natalie could think about was that hug he’d given her, the way she’d felt when he’d pressed himself tight against her, the way his cheeks turned just slightly red as he was pulling away. Why couldn’t Kate see that Natalie had been driving herself crazy with thoughts of that boy for the past year? Why couldn’t Natalie just bring herself to tell Kate that _she_ liked Zac, and she was pretty sure he had liked her back?

What did it even matter? He obviously hadn’t liked her back all that much, considering she’d given him her phone number and he’d never called. Not even once. And besides, he was younger than her, so why couldn’t she get her mind off of the thoughts that maybe they _had_ met on that beach for a reason that day, albeit a totally different reason than the one Kate had thought up.

 

When they pulled into the already packed venue parking lot, Natalie could feel the onslaught of anxious nausea within seconds. 

_Chill out psycho. He’s not even going to remember you._ She cursed herself, pushing the car door open and following Kate’s lead to the doors where she gave her name to the intimidating man who was sitting there on a stool, a clipboard perched on his knee. 

“With Macy’s, I see you here,” he held out two backstage passes to the girls. “Stick these on your shirts, someone inside will tell you where to go.”

 

Natalie had never been backstage at a concert before. Truly, she’d never been to a concert before, period. She looked around wide-eyed, watching all of the action unfold in front of her. There were guys pushing around carts that she assumed were loaded with instruments and gear, people shouting orders across the empty space, a sense of urgency and importance that Natalie hadn’t been expecting. She didn’t know where she’d gotten her ideas of what backstage at a show would look like, but in her imagination it had been all relaxed and cool, people with sweaty beer bottles held in their grasp, people lounging and schmoozing with the band. But, it wasn’t anything like that at all. As far as Natalie could tell, the band wasn’t even there. She hadn’t laid eyes on a single one of them in the twenty minutes that her and Kate had been sitting on an empty equipment case, trying to look like they belonged there. 

She was picking at a loose thread on her jeans when she heard his voice, and though she’d only ever heard it in person that one time, she’d know it anywhere. She looked up just as he rounded the corner into the area they’d been sitting and their eyes met. She saw slight confusion flash through his eyes, followed by recognition. His eyes lit up and his face transformed into a huge smile as he practically skipped over to where they were sitting.

“Natalie!” He put his hands on her waist and lifted her off of the empty case she was sitting on. She was surprised by his strength, but the shock wore away quickly, replaced by elation at the way he swung her around, his arms wrapped around her in a tight hug. “How are you here? Wow!” He placed her down on the ground, turning and motioning at his brothers, one hand still on her hip. “This is her, you guys! This is the girl I told you about!”

“From the beach, right?” Taylor stopped a couple of feet away and held his hand out, an easy smile on his face. “I’m Taylor.”

“Natalie,” she smiled and nodded. “It’s good to meet you.”

“You too, this guy’s been talking about you for ages,” Taylor grinned, nudging Zac in the side with his elbow.

“We were starting to think he’d made you up,” Isaac was grinning, holding his hand out to her. “You can call me Ike.”

“Nice to meet you, Ike,” Natalie smiled. “I’m real, after all.”

They all laughed, Zac wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. She could feel his smile radiating and when she turned her head to look at him it was even brighter than she’d remembered. 

She was shaken out of her reverie when she heard Kate clear her throat from where she was still sitting on the case behind her.

“Oh! This is Kate,” Natalie motioned for Kate to get off the case and join them. “My best friend.”

“Kate,” Isaac held his hand out to Kate, who blushed and shook it. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Kate smiled and then shot Natalie a look.

“Let me show you around,” Zac spoke, unwrapping his arm from Natalie’s waist and threading his fingers through hers. “You guys will entertain Kate, right?”

“Of course,” Isaac said. “We were just going to eat, she can join us.”

“But-“ Kate said, narrowing her eyes at Natalie.

“We won't be long!” Zac interrupted her, smiling at Natalie. “Promise!”

 

Natalie’s stomach was full of butterflies as Zac lead her through the hallways of the venue. He was telling her about something funny that had happened that morning, but she couldn’t concentrate on his words, all she could think of was how, after over a year, he’d been so happy to see her. She didn’t think she’d ever seen someone’s face light up the way his had simply because of seeing her. 

He lead her into a tiny room, the walls were painted a ridiculous shade of pink, the carpet plush white, but stained from what looked like one too many spilled drinks. He was explaining that this was their own personal room for the day when she pulled gently on his hand, causing him to turn around and face her. 

“Why didn’t you call?” She spoke quietly, she could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks, but she had to know, why hadn’t he wanted to talk to her?

“I did,” he shrugged. “Every day for a while. Sometimes I still call, hoping I’ve been putting the number in wrong.”

“What?” She shook her head. That didn’t make sense. If he’d called, she’d have known. She’d spent days waiting by the phone. 

“The number you gave me, it was disconnected.”

“That’s...impossible,” she shook her head again. She knew her own phone number. 

“No, look,” He pulled on her arm and lead her to the couch. Once she was sitting, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and sat down next to her. She watched as he pulled a small, folded piece of paper out and dropped his wallet on the couch next to him. He unfolded the paper and held it out for her to take.

“Oh,” she breathed as she took the paper. She looked up at him and couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “That 3 5...it’s supposed to be 5 3.”

“Taylor kept telling me that you probably gave me the wrong number on purpose,” Zac grinned. “That you didn’t want to talk to a kid like me.”

“No,” she shook her head, smiling. “I waited for you to call forever. I figured you just didn’t want to talk to a boring girl like me.”

“You’re not boring,” he took her hand again, running his thumb across her skin. “I wanted to talk to you so bad.”

“You know,” Natalie looked at him, taking in his whole face. Shining, big eyes, full lips. “Kate has been talking about you non-stop since that day. She’s sure that us meeting on the beach was destiny, that you two are meant to be or something.”

“That’s weird,” Zac took her other hand in his and scooted a little closer to her on the couch. “Because I’m kind of- well, I kind of really like someone else.”

“Oh, yeah?” Natalie licked her lips. She was almost sure she was about to have her first kiss. She could feel the air between them becoming slightly electrified, all of her senses were on full alert.

“Yeah, I thought I lost her, but then she showed up…” the space between them was getting smaller and smaller, Natalie could feel his breath on her face. Her eyes fluttered shut just as his lips hit hers, his grip on her hands getting slightly tighter. 

It was chaste and innocent, just two pairs of lips pressed together, but Natalie was sure that in that moment, the direction of her life had drastically altered. She didn’t know how, and she didn’t know if they were old enough for her to be so sure, but she knew that she was going to spend the rest of her life kissing those lips.

 

They spent the next hour sitting on that couch, talking and occasionally kissing. Taylor poked his head in the door when it was time for the concert to start and told them it was time to pull each other away and get some work done.

“I know this is fast,” Zac said as they walked to the side stage area where Natalie and Kate would be watching the show from. “But, my life is kind of fast, and nothing is normal for me, so why even try to be normal with this?”

Natalie grinned, tilting her head to the side a little. They stopped walking right before the entrance to the stage and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him.

“I know I’m younger...than you, and we don’t really know each other that well, but-” he kissed her quickly on the cheek, the spot where his lips landed tingling when he drew them away. “Will you...maybe be my girlfriend?”

“How do we make it work?” She smiled, not sure how it was even possible for them, but she knew that she’d say yes. The only thing she’d been thinking about for over a year was finally coming true, there was no way she’d let it go now.

“I don’t know,” Zac shrugged, kissing her again, this time on the lips. “But I want to- need to make it work, so we just do. We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Come on love birds, we’ve got a job to do!” Taylor chuckled, walking up next to them. “You guys can play kissy face after the show.”

Zac leaned in again, smiling against Natalie’s mouth.

“This is for you, okay?” She nodded, instantly feeling the loss of him as he stepped away from her and breezed out onto the stage, sitting behind his drum set. 

As the opening notes exploded around her, she pressed her hand to her mouth, her lips still warm from where his had been. She knew it would be hard, but they were going to make it work. She didn’t care who he was, what his last name was or what he did for work, she just knew that he was _perfect_ for her.


End file.
